My food discipline has been lacking over the holiday season with family birthdays and the cooler winter weather seeming to demand something warm and comforting. Old habits die hard and not being focused in my commitment is the problem. "Are you committed or just interested" is a good question? My honest answer for the month of December would have to be "just interested". However, I am making the most positive choices beyond the L.O.V.E. food program. Not great, but it will have to do until the new year. To err is human, to forgive is divine. I just asking for a little grace to get me through December.

"If you are not busy being born, you are busy dying." --Bob Dylan "Obstacles are those things we see when we take our eyes off our goals." "If we don't like where we are, change it! We are not trees." "Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity." -- Louis Pasteur, Chemist and Microbiologist

Thanksgiving was one of my planned days from my 1% goal. However the string of birthdays and celebrations in December is making sticking to my goal very difficult. I've dropped from 99% to a much lower compliance level. I may just reboot my plan in January. I've kept most of the good eating habits that I have developed, but I'm making more tasting exceptions and taking cooked meals more often than I had originally thought that I would do.

"If you are not busy being born, you are busy dying." --Bob Dylan "Obstacles are those things we see when we take our eyes off our goals." "If we don't like where we are, change it! We are not trees." "Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity." -- Louis Pasteur, Chemist and Microbiologist

"If you are not busy being born, you are busy dying." --Bob Dylan "Obstacles are those things we see when we take our eyes off our goals." "If we don't like where we are, change it! We are not trees." "Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity." -- Louis Pasteur, Chemist and Microbiologist

I spent day 15 of my return to Live Organic Vegan Energy food working at Wild Willow Farm, an organic farm just north of Mexico in San Diego. I brought a delicious salad from the night before and I left the garden with a large bag of tomatoes and greens which I partially used to make a delicious Greek Village Salad last night. I'm find the return to LOVE easier and wonderful as I'm am eating gourmet LOVE meals every night. Yummy and losing weight too!

"If you are not busy being born, you are busy dying." --Bob Dylan "Obstacles are those things we see when we take our eyes off our goals." "If we don't like where we are, change it! We are not trees." "Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity." -- Louis Pasteur, Chemist and Microbiologist

Day 14 of continuous raw food and I feel great and I'm not missing anything.

"If you are not busy being born, you are busy dying." --Bob Dylan "Obstacles are those things we see when we take our eyes off our goals." "If we don't like where we are, change it! We are not trees." "Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity." -- Louis Pasteur, Chemist and Microbiologist

"If you are not busy being born, you are busy dying." --Bob Dylan "Obstacles are those things we see when we take our eyes off our goals." "If we don't like where we are, change it! We are not trees." "Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity." -- Louis Pasteur, Chemist and Microbiologist

"If you are not busy being born, you are busy dying." --Bob Dylan "Obstacles are those things we see when we take our eyes off our goals." "If we don't like where we are, change it! We are not trees." "Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity." -- Louis Pasteur, Chemist and Microbiologist

Day nine and I'm feeling fine! I ate a great raw, vegan hamburger at Evolution Cafe yesterday and it was great. It was served on a napa cabbage bun.

"If you are not busy being born, you are busy dying." --Bob Dylan "Obstacles are those things we see when we take our eyes off our goals." "If we don't like where we are, change it! We are not trees." "Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity." -- Louis Pasteur, Chemist and Microbiologist

"If you are not busy being born, you are busy dying." --Bob Dylan "Obstacles are those things we see when we take our eyes off our goals." "If we don't like where we are, change it! We are not trees." "Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity." -- Louis Pasteur, Chemist and Microbiologist

The joining of two household last year and my commitment to my continuing education about gardening, composting, permaculture, and my volunteer work, disrupted many of my healthy lifestyle practices such as a live food diet and daily exercise at the gym. I gained back 50 of the pounds that I had lost on the live food diet and my endurance and stamina suffered from the lack of going to the gym every day. On our annual family vacation this month, my son suggested that he and his French wife would like for us all to go on a live food diet for a year so that he could lose some of the weight that returning from France and indulging in all of the American food that he missed for 6 years had caused him to gain. So, our family: Jules my son; Anne, is wife, and Julieta, my wife, decided to return to live or raw food that had served me so well, two years ago, when I dropped 75 pounds and felt really great.

We decided to make our commitment for 99%, this allow us to wrap our raw salads in Nori, which is a nutritious seaweed wrap used in sushi bars. What is available locally is roasted unless we wanted to pay ten times as much per sheet at Whole Foods Market. Also, 99% allows us an escape valve for holidays and celebrations if we need them by eating up to 12 non-live meals per year. This is not a requirement, but it made my son and daughter-in-law more comfortable and helps us to be able to continue to celebrate Thanksgiving with our extended family in San Diego, which we have done for the last 22 years.

For my recent birthday, we had lunch at Swami's Cafe and I had a great vegan tropical salad and a wheat grass and apple juice beverage for lunch and Anne made me a delicious curried spinach soup and a raw fruit birthday cake. I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything and neither did my family who celebrated with me. Maybe, I'll bring some raw Thanksgiving alternatives to the annual gathering this year?

"If you are not busy being born, you are busy dying." --Bob Dylan "Obstacles are those things we see when we take our eyes off our goals." "If we don't like where we are, change it! We are not trees." "Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity." -- Louis Pasteur, Chemist and Microbiologist

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